Abstract: Soft material design methods for developing protective panels against a hail with a diameter of more than 25 mm are provided, wherein the protective panel comprises a soft material layer. The methods comprise: selecting a material for the soft material layer, wherein the material has a Young's modulus Esm in a range of 1 MPa to 150 MPa, preferably 5 MPa to 100 MPa; and determining a minimum thickness Tsm of the soft material layer based on the size of a hail and the material properties of the soft material and other materials inside the protective panel. A protection system that includes these protective panels covers a whole vehicle or some fragile parts on the ground.

Abstract: Soft material design methods for developing protective panels against a hail with a diameter of more than 25 mm are provided, wherein the protective panel comprises a soft material layer. The methods comprise: selecting a material for the soft material layer, wherein the material has a Young's modulus Esm in a range of 1 MPa to 150 MPa, preferably 5 MPa to 100 MPa; and determining a minimum thickness Tsm of the soft material layer based on the size of a hail and the material properties of the soft material and other materials inside the protective panel. A protection system that includes these protective panels covers a whole vehicle or some fragile parts on the ground.

Abstract: A self-supporting shield system for portable blast and ballistic protection includes at least two large shields pivotally joined together at the top, or two rigid frames pivotally joined together at the top, each framed fitted with a number of armor plates. The two shields or two frames can be separated apart by pivoting around the joint to form triangular shape that is self-supporting and free standing. The shield system not only provides the self-supporting function under dynamic loading, but also increases energy dissipation of the projectile and enhance the reliability and survivability of the shield system.

Abstract: An external vehicle window glass protection system for protecting against static or moving sharp objects. It includes a relatively soft and lightweight layered armor panel, and a releasable mounting system to mount the armor panel on a vehicle door to cover the glass window. The layered armor panel has at least two layers of materials: an outer hard material layer to provide stab resistance and yield large plastic deformation/damage, and an inner soft material layer to reduce the contact force and absorb or dissipate kinetic energy of moving sharp object. The armor panel mounting system has an armor package with the armor panel inside, a back sheet behind the vehicle door folded around the large curved door edge to provide vertical constraint, and a side sheet folded around the vertical edge of the door to provide horizontal constraint. These two sheets are releasably connected using fasteners.

Abstract: Armor/shields/helmets including highly property-mismatched interfaces (mismatch level of bulk materials and interfaces more than 60%) are disclosed, which provide protections against external dynamic loading such as blast loading, impact of projectiles and sharp-edged foreign objects. The mechanism to reduce dynamic force and damage is a specific material design using soft and ductile interfaces/adhesive layers to 1) bond or hold other layers/bulk materials with blast/impact/stab resistance, 2) reduce stress wave transmission and the maximum dynamic force, 3) decrease shear deformation of the inner layers behind interfaces, and 4) dissipate more energy due to blast and impact along the armor/shield/helmet surface. Therefore, less energy would be available to contribute to penetrate the armor/shields/helmets, or cause damage.